On The World Race we have been told repeatedly to go into
everything with no expectations. I have
gotten better about keeping a good attitude when my expectations are not met,
but I still find it impossible to have no expectations at all. Today I expected to leave at 10:00 am to take
a 6 hour bus ride across the border of Swaziland into South Africa. I expected to be in an 8 passenger van with
my five team members (we are leaving Joy behind in Swaziland; she is going to
do set up early in Thailand). I expected
to arrive at our destination, Rustinburg, at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Once we arrived in Rustinburg, I expected to
set up my tent where I would be camping out for the month. But, I also expected any or all of these
expectations to be crushed.
At 11:00 am (not 10:00 am) we pulled out of the AIM base in
two 20 passenger vans. I was still with
my team, but two of my expectations were already broken. It was not a big deal it just meant driving a
little out of our way to drop off the other four teams that were traveling with
us. The drive took us through diverse landscape
of flat deserts, rolling valleys, and rocky hills. Our e.t.a. of 4 o’clock came and went and we
still had not dropped off the other teams-expectation three gone. Finally in darkness we arrived at the
drop-off point for the other teams at 8:00pm.
Two hours later we pulled into Rustinburg, South Africa at 10:00
pm. After only 11 hours of driving (5
hours longer than our expected arrival time) we had reached our destination. I feel safe in saying that expectation was
crushed, but it did not bother me very much.
Eleven hours in a car seems like a normal driving distance anymore.
Dave Betzer, our contact and director of the
Children’s shelter, led us into the gated compound. I was wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and
a fleece and I was still shivering, so I was not looking forward to setting up and
sleeping in my tent. This is my favorite
broken expectation of the day…I did not have to sleep in my tent. Dave opened up an apartment to Brienna and
me. The apartment was fully furnished
with couches, a kitchen, a hot shower, carpet, and a bed. This might not sound like much, but to me it was
paradise. A nice added bonus was that
the apartment was decorated like any American house would be; the American décor
made me feel right at home. The sheets
felt so soft when I climbed under covers instead of into a sleeping bag. As my head hit the pillows (notice I said
pillows not just one tiny travel pillow), I did not even think about the many
expectations I had this morning. I did
however thank God that my expectation of sleeping in a tent was crushed and
replaced with an amazing bed.
This is a picture of Eric ready to load our gear at the AIM house in Swaziland:
